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The Government of President Joe Biden announced this Thursday, April 27, that it will open migration centers in Guatemala and Colombia for asylum seekers heading to the border between the United States and Mexico. The measure seeks to stop what is expected to be a massive exodus once the mobility restrictions imposed during the pandemic, contained in the so-called Title 42, end.
The United States anticipates a foreseeable mass exodus of migrants towards its borders.
At a time when the end of the policy known as Title 42 is approaching, on May 11, the Government of Joe Biden announced on April 27 that will open centers to manage migrant applications in Colombia and Guatemala. These are two of the countries that are on the land route of thousands of people trying to reach the US in search of refuge.
According to officials quoted by the US press, in these centers the interested parties will have the possibility of benefiting from refugee programs and humanitarian permits to eventually move to the United States.
But the agility with which these processes would be carried out is not yet clear. In the past, similar measures have left thousands of people stranded in cities in neighboring Mexico.
Other sources quoted by Reuters assured that Ecuador and Costa Rica would also be under consideration by the US authorities to install the migrant centers.
For decades, the actions promoted from Washington to control irregular migration have been focused on Mexico and the Central American nations, but in recent years Colombia has also stood out as an important point in the journey of thousands of people, especially through a Dangerous journey through the Darien jungle, on the border with Panama. Many of these migrants are Venezuelans and Haitians fleeing the political, economic, and security crises in their nations.
The Biden Administration would thus be changing the focus of an immigration policy focused on its borders to address it as a hemispheric issue.
What is Title 42?
Title 42 arose as a provisional measure in the Administration of former President Donald Trump, during the Covid-19 pandemic, which served to stop the flow of undocumented people to their country under the argument of stopping the spread of the virus.
The norm, which extended beyond the health emergency, has served as a policy to counteract migration. With their next uprising, the border authorities will no longer be able to continue with immediate expulsions, either for representing “a health risk” or for entering their territory irregularly.
The announcement comes at a critical moment for Biden, who recently announced that he will seek re-election ahead of the 2024 elections and whose Administration faces pressure from the Republican opposition that accuses him of encouraging migration, after in the first part of his Presidency he issued a less aggressive speech against the undocumented.
Those allegations have dogged Biden since he came to lead the White House, facing an influx of unaccompanied migrant children that shocked authorities.
However, simultaneously the Democratic leader has promoted measures to stop the massive arrival of citizens without a permit to migrate; which is why some Democrats and human rights organizations point to him for issuing strong orders against migration.
Canada and Spain would accept migrants from the centers that the US will create.
Those two countries would receive migrants from the centers installed by Washington and administered together with “international organizations” in Colombia and Guatemala, according to the US government. The officials clarified that they would be cases processed through legal channels.
That way they could obtain authorizations to migrate such as refugee status, family reunification programs and work permits.
The measures will be applied “in coordination with regional partners, including the governments of Mexico, Canada, Spain, Colombia and Guatemala,” said a statement from the Department of State and Homeland Security.
The official announcement insists that the intention is for people to migrate in a “safe, orderly and humane” manner.
However, the US authorities have also indicated that those who are denied an asylum application under the new regulation will be subject to “immediate removal”, which could deter further border crossings.
In addition, the new regulations would prevent most migrants who cross the US-Mexico border without a permit from claiming asylum if they passed through another country without seeking refuge there or did not first use legal pathways to the US.
The US authorities emphasize that the increase in migrants is the result of a historical and global movement. They also highlight that they recently launched programs that provide a path for the transfer of Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans, who have arrived in greater numbers in the last two years.
But under those rules, for example in the case of Venezuelans, those interested they must demonstrate from their country of origin that they have a sponsor in the United States. That is, a person capable of providing them with “financial and other support.”
The officials examine case by case and those who are admitted obtain an authorization to travel by air to the United States. Once there they can apply for a work permit.
People who have been deported from the US in the last five years, who entered Panama or Mexico irregularly or who try to cross the US border without authorization are not eligible for the program.
Many of those who have undertaken the arduous journey by land point out that not all those affected by the acute crisis in Venezuela have the possibility of meeting the requirements; among which are difficulties in acquiring a passport.
With AP, Reuters and local media
